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An Analysis of Ecuador's Plan Nacional Para El Buen Vivir

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An Analysis of Ecuador's Plan Nacional Para El Buen Vivir LIVING THE GOOD LIFE? AN ANALYSIS OF ECUADOR’S PLAN NACIONAL PARA EL BUEN VIVIR DEVELOPMENT MODEL AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO A NEOLIBERAL GLOBAL FRAMEWORK by Ryan J. Cobey July, 2012 Director of Thesis: Dr. Jeffrey Popke Major Department: International Studies In recent years, international relations scholars have focused considerable attention on the position of Latin America within the modern global political economy. A number of Latin American countries have attempted to implement alternative development models to the prevailing neoliberal approach. One such country is the Republic of Ecuador, which has established a development plan called buen vivir. This approach is unique because it is grounded in indigenous concepts arising from the Kichwa term sumak kawsay. This thesis draws upon data collected from government documents and public interviews to examine how Ecuador’s new model challenges neoliberalism in three specific areas: development, environment and culture. The results of this investigation show that in each case there are genuine moves away from neoliberalism, but that ambiguities still exist because Ecuador must still function within a neoliberal framework. Overall, Ecuador’s version of post-neoliberalism can be considered a movement beyond traditional neoliberal economics, and its indigenous concepts can provide important context for analyzing alternative development trends. Understanding better how Ecuador’s buen vivir functions as an alternative to the status-quo global political economy can help advance future research regarding post-neoliberal alternative development models in Latin America. LIVING THE GOOD LIFE? AN ANALYSIS OF ECUADOR’S PLAN NACIONAL PARA EL BUEN VIVIR DEVELOPMENT MODEL AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO A NEOLIBERAL GLOBAL FRAMEWORK THESIS DIRECTOR Dr. Jeff Popke PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR Ryan Cobey In partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Arts in International Studies East Carolina University © (Ryan J. Cobey, 2012) LIVING THE GOOD LIFE? AN ANALYSIS OF ECUADOR’S PLAN NACIONAL PARA EL BUEN VIVIR DEVELOPMENT MODEL AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO A NEOLIBERAL GLOBAL FRAMEWORK by Ryan J. Cobey APPROVED BY: DIRECTOR OF THESIS: _____________________________________ E. Jeffrey Popke, PhD COMMITTEE MEMBER: ____________________________________ Luci Fernandes, PhD COMMITTEE MEMBER: ____________________________________ Angela Thompson, PhD COMMITTEE MEMBER: ____________________________________ Diane Rodriguez, PhD CHAIR OF M.A. IN INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: ____________________________________________Sylvie Debevec Henning, PhD DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL: _______________________________________________ Paul J. Gemperline, PhD TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii PREFACE: THE COMPLEXITY OF SIMPLICITY .................................................................. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION, REVIEW OF THE RELEVANT LITERATURE AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2: EXPLANATION OF THE METHODOLOGY .....................................................17 CHAPTER 3: ´SUMAK KAWSAY´, AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OCCIDENT ....................24 CHAPTER 4: DEVELOPMENT AS ‘BUEN VIVIR’ ..................................................................33 CHAPTER 5: PACHAMAMA AND ECOSOFÍA – ECUADOR’S TURN TOWARD ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY ...................................................................................46 CHAPTER 6: LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF EQUALITY: PLURINATIONALISM WITHIN A SOVEREIGN STATE ........................................................64 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION, LOOKING TOWARD THE SOUTH ........................................80 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................84 APPENDIX A: LIST OF ACRONYMS........................................................................................90 APPENDIX B: EXAMPLE OF SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW SCHEDULE ..................91 APPENDIX C: EXAMPLE OF INTERVIEW CONSENT FORM (SPANISH) ..........................92 APPENDIX D: IRB APPROVAL LETTER .................................................................................93 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Indigenous populations of Ecuador split by geographical region ..................................9 Figure 2.1 List of Government Documents ...................................................................................18 Figure 2.2 List of Interview Respondents ......................................................................................20 Figure 2.3 Coding of Interview Quotes .........................................................................................21 Figure 3.1 Comparison of the Occidental and Andean worlds by ideological concept .................29 Figure 3.2 Basic Principles of ´Sumak Kawsay´ ...........................................................................30 Figure 4.1 Key concepts of ‘Buen Vivir’ as defined by the 2008 Constitution.............................35 Figure 4.2 Main objectives of Ecuador’s Buen Vivir as addressed in the Correa government’s national plan ...................................................................................................................................36 Figure 4.3 Relationship between subjective measurements of a ‘buen vivir’ as defined by Ramírez (2010) and the indigenous Kichwa philosophy of ‘sumak kawsay´ ...............................41 Figure 5.1 Terms pacha and kawsay as compared to the Occidental world ..................................48 Figure 5.2 Articles in the 2008 Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador that pertain to the government’s ecosofia .........................................................................................................50 Figure 6.1 Comparing Definitions of Plurnationalism: Correa Government and Indigenous Confederations ...............................................................................................................................67 Figure 6.2 Referendum graffiti in the town of Ambato, Chimborazo province, Ecuador .............70 Figure 6.3 Billboard in Quito describing government support for structural improvements to secondary educational institution ´Colegio 24 de Mayo´ ..............................................................73 Figure 6.4 Billboard in the rural Andes mountain region near the town of Riobamba describing the government’s work to improve highways and road systems in the area .................................74 Figure 6.5 Billboard in the city of Ibarra, capital of the Imbabura province in northern Ecuador, describing government support for educating and increasing capabilities for textile machine operators in the region ...................................................................................................................74 PREFACE THE COMPLEXITY OF SIMPLICITY “You know, things aren’t always so simple here.” I listened to my friend’s advice as I watched two children from the coastal city of Guayaquil fight over a McDonald’s meal that I had just bought for them. Other children were performing in the street for cars stopped at traffic lights, while even more were selling rare fruits and indigenous handicrafts to people coming out of the fast food restaurant. Before travelling to Ecuador, I never quite understood the complexity of simplicity. The two words are contradictory; to state that something is complex is to imply that it is not simple. Yet, in Ecuador the two words could be used interchangeably. Life seems simpler in the small Andean state, nestled between the Pacific powerhouses of Colombia and Peru. Buying a piece of fruit from a travelling vendor, listening to the sounds of a traditional folkloric band on a bus, and enjoying the feel of a freshly- picked aloe vera plant after a bad sunburn are just some of the ‘simple’ things, or cositas that are commonplace in Ecuador. It is a country with a thriving cultural heritage and beautiful natural environment. But in a country so rich with cultural and natural wealth, why do extreme levels of poverty continue to exist? It is a question that has been asked about much of the ‘global south’. Measurements of poverty and development have frequently been used to determine how ‘successful’ a country is within the global political economy. They are based almost entirely on economic factors and have placed each country on the same scale for success. However, the meanings of such measures have been challenged in recent years, and defining poverty and development is not as simple now as it once was. In Ecuador, the indigenous movement has helped to spark a twenty-year citizen revolution, which has called on government leaders not only to improve social conditions in the country, but to completely rethink its ideological structure. In 2006 the citizen’s revolution elected Rafael Correa Delgado as president of the republic, and in 2008 a new constitution was drafted that formally recognized the country as a ‘plurinational’ state and gave concrete rights to the natural environment. Ecuador’s new plan for ‘good living’ has gone beyond trying to simply fix the problems of poverty and underdevelopment and instead has focused on defining these problems in an entirely different way. The Kichwa term sumak kawsay has become a watchword in the Andean region, and has been used to
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